Surprisingly, many of the lessons I've learned over the years have little to nothing to do with designing buildings. That doesn't mean they weren't worth learning.

Reflection

Friday, May 29, 2015

You're from Lancaster...

So
you're Amish, right? I don’t know how
many times I’ve been asked this question.
Depending on who asks my answer can vary significantly. But as our firm is from Lancaster and we work all over the country, I decided to provide a little historical background for those who may not be familiar with our fair city. Because where we're from has something to do with who we are.

We've been using wind and solar energy here for a long time.

RLPS
is a unique firm in that it is well known in the senior living circle as a
national firm, yet we are not based where one might expect. Instead of New York, Washington, DC,
Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, RLPS is located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the
heart of Amish Country. Many years ago,
I imagine this was a barrier to us getting work outside of Pennsylvania. But today, we routinely compete
with a half a dozen or so national firms that specialize in design for the
senior housing industry. We are the only firm that is based in a non-metropolitan area, however. We speak at
national conferences and at conferences for individual states from coast to coast,
and our staff have been published in various national publications and trade
papers. We recently had people in both
Portlands (Maine and Oregon) on the very same day, so we had all 3,187 miles
covered, coast to coast.

Slate roof on First Reformed Church of Lancaster steeple.

Lancaster has a rich history of fine masonry workers. (Central Market)

RLPS
began modestly in 1954 and at that time built its reputation upon the design of
churches. In the 1960’s and 70’s, many
of those congregations created not-for-profit senior living campuses for their
parishioners and missionaries, and RLPS provided design services for those same
clients. Now, a half-century later, we
have worked on nearly 1,500 senior’s housing and care center projects. We enjoy a national reputation, having worked
in more than 30 states over the last 30 years, but we still have our roots in
Lancaster.

Smell that? Must be Spring!

Many
of our staff is native to this area, including myself. I was born in downtown Lancaster and, as I
like to put it, Mehaffey’s have been polluting Lancaster County for
centuries. My earliest ancestor I have
yet traced with the surname Mehaffey (also James) was in Marietta, Lancaster
County in the 1700’s. I believe our
staffs’ roots has something to do with our endurance and our work ethic. Lancaster County was part of Penn’s Woods and
was a haven for those fleeing religious persecution in Europe. As a result, the area became a home to the
Amish, Mennonites, Anabaptists, as well as the Scots-Irish looking to put some
distance between themselves and the Crown.
These religious folk have a tradition of hard work and
perseverance. Today, there are employees
at RLPS who have worked here for 30 and even 40 years and beyond! This is unheard of in the architectural
offices around the country, really. I
have been employed at RLPS for 20 years, and I still consider myself a young
pup compared to five or six other guys who easily average more than 35 years.

Amish kids bringing their dads lunch at a local construction site (Landis Homes)

Lancaster
is both a City and a County in South Central PA. The city has a population close to 60,000
residents and the County is slightly over a half-million people. There are those who may argue for other towns,
but we say Lancaster is the oldest inland town in the United States, founded in
1734. The very first paved road in the
US ran from here to Philadelphia (now Route 30). Lancaster is situated between the State capital
(37 miles), Philadelphia (76 miles) and Baltimore (78 miles), making it ideal
for commuters. RLPS has been known to
attract new employees from these more metropolitan cities.

Lancaster
City and County have a rich history as it relates to the rest of the United
States. In 1777, after the British took
Philadelphia, the Continental Congress met in Lancaster on September the 27th,
making it the Capital of the US for that day (the Congress had to continue to
move west, away from British forces soon after). In terms of politicians, Lancaster City is
home to the James Buchanan estate, Wheatland.
As fifteenth president of the United States, he doesn’t get a lot of
love for keeping the US from entering the Civil War, but that may have
something to do with another Lancastrian, Thaddeus Stevens, famed abolitionist
portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones in the film Lincoln. The residents here from the Swiss and German
stock especially were resolutely against slavery.

There are some tremendous buildings downtown (North Duke Street)

In
terms of commerce and industry, Lancaster also played a part in manufacturing
from infancy of the Nation. The
Conestoga wagon and the Pennsylvania Long Rifle both were manufactured
here. Robert Fulton, inventor of the
steam boat, was a native son. FW
Woolworth opened the first Five and Dime store here in 1879. Armstrong World Industries was founded in Lancaster
in 1891 (by one of those Scots-Irish families), known of course for their floor
and ceiling products, but started out in cork and linoleum made from plant fibers and oils. Milton Hershey’s first successful candy shop
was in Lancaster in 1886 and it is still home to the plant that makes Twizzlers
(Hershey was one of those Swiss-Germans).
RCA had a factory here in the 1940’s, and along with Hamilton Watch
Company and the Stehli Silk Mill, Lancaster made massive contributions to the
War effort (radio parts, bomb timers and parachutes). If you’ve ever been to an airport; you’ve seen
Auntie Ann’s Pretzels, headquartered in Lancaster. And MapQuest, formally a division of RR Donnelley
(a printer of maps among other things), has its roots in Lancaster.

The old Silk Mill - windows were blacked out to prevent the Nazis from bombing it.

I
give you this background to augment most folk’s knowledge of Lancaster, PA with
full acknowledgement of the steep agrarian history. We mostly come from farmers, yes. In the attempt of full disclosure; the place I
am typing right this second was a cornfield years ago, and I literally was
picking corn on this site in 1989. But
we as a county (excluding the Amish) were part of the industrial revolution and
every other revolution since.

A
very large percentage of our staff was born or grew up in Lancaster County or a
neighboring county and I think it has a lot to do with who we are. And those staff who aren't originally from Lancaster have been here long enough to have raised their children here. We sometimes have to overcome backwoods or
hick stereotypes, but our reputation nationally has been steadily
building. And while much of our work
ends up outside of city centers based on the availability of large tracts of
land, RLPS has been making some headway into more metropolitan work as of late. This may be one of the last barriers we need
to cross as a firm, getting that high profile, city center commission. But based on information from the US Census
Bureau, 97% (footnote 1) of the land in the United States is considered rural,
not urban, so maybe we will be just fine.

Other
Notable Lancastrians:

Jim
Furyk, golfer and US Open champion 2003 (he was a senior when I was a freshman
at our high school)

Kristen
Wiig, Famous Actress (also went to my school up to 8th grade, in my class)

Lt..
Cdr. Andy Baldwin, US Navy, from the Bachelor (also from my high school, though
younger than me)